Notes and Editorial Reviews

The USSR State Radio and Television Symphony brings its signature sound, a sound that has vanished along with the Soviet era, to Sibelius with fascinating results, especially remarkable for the orchestra's substantial breadth and focused, potent energy. (The dynamically restricted recording is a somewhat limiting factor, but anyone who's heard Russian orchestras live knows how loud they can play). The woodwinds have a unique pungency that shades the music in unusual hues, while the strings lay a carpet of sound whenever they play. And where else could you hear the symphony's great trombone tune played with such soulfulness--and schmaltzy vibrato? Rozhdestvensky molds all of these elements into a highly satisfying performance. The same goesRead more for the Rakastava suite, where Rozhdestvensky's stealthy conducting and the orchestra's icy string sound evoke the music's twilight isolation.

The artists return to home turf with Glazunov's Scènes de Ballet, which, like The Seasons, demonstrates the composer's melodic fecundity and remarkable skill at orchestration. Beginning with brass fanfares in the Preamble, the work's nine movements explore a variety of dance styles from Waltz to Mazurka to Polonaise, all of which Rozhdestvensky and the orchestra bring off with considerable panache. The sound is still typical of its time and place, but the current mastering is clear and full--profoundly better than those old Melodiya LPs.
--Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com Read less